Weekly Update

Rumors of me teleporting to another dimension have been greatly exaggerated. I have been working really hard preparing the second book of the Tilling Passion’s series DECEIVE HER WITH DESIRE for publication. I’m also working on a call for submission for Ellora’s Cave. This has kept me deep in the writer’s cave and my fingers flying over the keyboard.

I’m also working on a major overhaul of my website. LOL! I say it like I’m doing it. Fact is, my awesome webmistress, Jenn, from Sapphire Designs just takes my visions and turns them into something gorgeous! I can’t wait until it goes live. Trust me…you’ll know when it’s up. You’ll hear me screaming from the Northeast!

Don’t forget about the CONTEST I’m running. I hope you’ll join in the fun.

And just because I’ve been working so hard, how about if I leave you with a little taste of Deceive Her With Desire? Soon. It’ll be available soon!

Cautious, and working to keep his jangled nerves from pumping his legs in a dead run, Ayden strolled to the shelter of the dinghy. The noise grew louder. Ayden realized he wasn’t moving away from the sound; he was aimed toward it. What a fool. It was a beautiful fall night. Lovers were using the upended craft for a little sex party of their own.

Turning on his heel, he started to walk away, when the noise came again. It wasn’t the moan of sexual pleasure. It was the keening sound of sadness. Someone was crying. And from the quiet hiccupping, it was female.

Ayden shot a longing look over his shoulder, debating between the refuge of the path and the complications under the boat.

Chivalry won out and he stepped warily around the bow.

The redhead sat on the wooden slats, her bare feet digging restlessly in the sand, her face cupped in her hands. Between shuddering breaths, she sputtered angrily into her bent knees, but her tears and her fingers kept the words from him.

“Uh-hmm.” He cleared his throat, not knowing how else to get her attention.

“Holy shit…” She tried to jump to her feet, but banged her head on the iron rigging attached to the upside of the boat. She fell down hard. “Fuck.” Her hand flew to her head.

“I’m sorry, you okay?” Ayden reached for her, but she shook him off.

“I’m fine.”

She looked up at him. Even in the pale light, he could see the anguish in her eyes.

“Actually, I’m not all right.” She pushed herself up, ducking her head away from the oarlock. She wiped at the sand on her bottom. “You scared the living shit out of me.”

Biting back a smile, Ayden watched her glistening tears turn to fury. That he could handle. An angry woman was one hundred times easier to placate than a despondent one.

“Again, I apologize.” He held his hands up in surrender. “I’m Austin Schaeffer.” How easily that name slipped off his tongue.

“Deirdre Tilling,” She shook the hand he offered.

Her grip was surprisingly firm. Ayden liked the touch of her palm against his skin. Not all soft and pliant, but callused and rough. He wondered how it would feel running up his back. Yeah, no getting away from that train of thought.

She was a beautiful woman. Her breasts swelled enticingly just above the bodice of her dress. Her long, muscular legs that he’d admired in the great room, started somewhere around her neck. No wonder Jameson had been seducing this lovely creature.

Jameson. Right. He mentally shook his head. Focus, Ayden. Tonight was about gathering information, not sexual conquests. But then again, there was that two birds and one stone thing.

“You come to Jameson’s parties often?” His voice sounded more at ease than he felt.

She pulled her hand from his and rubbed at the spot on her head. “What? Jameson? Oh, Shawn. No, never been to one of his parties. I’m one of his employees. Damn, this hurts. It’s already forming an egg.”

Ayden ignored the fact she’d called the owner Shawn. Obviously, he wasn’t getting any action from an employee who referred to her boss by his first name.

“Here, let me take a look at it.” He ran his fingers through her hair. It was soft as silk sliding over his hand. “Oh, yeah. You did a nice job. Probably could use a little ice.” At this rate, so could he, but not on the head on his shoulders.

“I did a nice job? Me? You were the one sneaking up like some pirate looking for lost treasure.”

The woman had no idea how close to the truth she was. “I wasn’t sneaking up on you, I heard you crying.”

And there it was. Just like that the white knight had rendered her speechless.

I spent the better part of this week in another state shopping for a new home. The realtor said by the end of it we’ll be creating our own house in our heads putting a bathroom with a different livingroom and adding a kitchen from a different house. Oy! Was he right! My head is spinning with all the houses we’ve seen. I have to tell you, we looked at one house that was … interesting. There was no way to save the house from itself. There was an indoor pool (empty and without a liner) and an outdoor pool and bedrooms that just … weren’t. The realtor looked at me when we were alone in the kitchen, smiled and said, “there’s nothing to be done here, but blow it up and start again.” I nearly busted a gut. Our realtor is normally very stoic and says very little. But the man was right.

Anyway, we found some beautiful neighborhoods with houses that needed renovating and some beautiful houses we could move into in places we’d rather not live. I’m not sure what we’re going to do at this moment. All I know is now that I’ve returned home, there are boxes begging to be packed. I have two weeks left to get it all done. One foot in front of the other …

On the writing front I have to admit I didn’t get anything more than blog posts and a couple of guest posts written. My current WIP is just a couple of scenes away from being finished. I just need to buckle down and pound out the words and find my Happy-Ever-After for my lovers. I’d like to finish it before I move at the end of the month. Goal stated.

I enjoyed this book right from the start. Claire is a strong woman who can stand on her own. Yet as a submissive she decides to give up control to her Master. Whether he is Master or just plain Jonathon he is a wonderful man who will do anything for love, including keeping a secret from Claire and hoping that, when he reveals it, his heart is not torn out. Watching the two together makes for one hot read. Claire blossoms as a submissive and the love that grows between the two is wonderful…it includes some scenes that were very intense and very hot! I enjoyed this book so much and was happy to see the love and trust between the characters. Nina Pierce does a wonderful job of pulling the reader in and keeping you glued to the pages. I will definitely be on the look out for more of this author’s books in the future.

I’ll end today with an excerpt from “Maid for Master:
Jonathon dropped the cell phone into the oak drawer of his desk, grateful for the interruption. He’d been sitting in his office below Paradise Cove’s main club for the last hour trying to figure out how to handle Claire. No—not handle—men had been doing that her entire life. The woman needed someone who loved and respected all sides of her—the devoted mother, the caring daughter, the submissive lover as well as the corporate executive with an advanced business degree.

He could be that man—wanted to be that man.

Guilt and fear knotted cold in his gut. He’d come close to confessing everything this morning at breakfast. Seeing the gold band winding delicately around her biceps had sent his heart into overdrive. He wasn’t sure how Claire would react when she woke this morning in one of the staff lounges and found he wasn’t there. He had feared she’d feel abandoned once again and throw it all away. Thank God she hadn’t.

He’d tried to steer her toward the idea of the two of them together, but even his heartfelt confession of love hadn’t been enough to open her eyes to the possibility that there could actually be something between them. The disappointment had wrapped tight around his heart and he’d grabbed her computer, looking for a diversion.

Jon had fully expected to see that Claire had been pining over her ex-fiancé, which she’d done. But a few clicks of her internet history had brought up the XTC Resort website and its staff photos. His heart had skipped several beats knowing she’d been surfing their website. Of course he had no way of knowing exactly what she was trying to find, but he’d hoped she’d been looking for him. Well, not him but Master Xavier, the Dom who had held her last night as she’d allowed herself to purge the anxiety and discontent blinding her heart.

Jon understood how little she valued herself. Knew she believed she didn’t deserve to find a fulfilling relationship. Claire’s life had been nothing but one compromise after another.

Crazy week packing and writing and packing and organizing and packing, oh, and did I mention packing? The Pierce house has certainly accumulated enough … STUFF. (Sooo not the “S” word I wanted to use. *g*) I still have hopes of finishing my WIP before the end of February, which means I totally need to get my butt in gear. But I’m plugging away and I am half way through and it’s looking pretty good if I may say so myself.

And of course Valentine’s Day was this week so I need to give a shout out to Mr. Nina. You see, we usually buck the whole Hallmark Valentine’s stuff. But this year it just seemed wrong that we weren’t at least together to decide we didn’t want to celebrate it. But my honey had flowers delivered and had given my daughter a box of chocolates when he was home last with instructions to give it to me on Valentine’s Day. Awww … he totally made my day. Sometimes Mr. Nina does all right in the romance arena. 😉

I also finished some uber easy edits on my Naughty Nooner “Mated Bonds”, part of my Shifting Bonds series. I’ll let you know when I have a release date for that. I suspect it won’t be too far in the future. (And if you didn’t catch it … it will be FREE!)

Today I’m hanging out with Misty at Up All Night E-Books. She offers a little free promotion and I’ve got “MaidforMaster” up today.. Mwah! If you’ve got a minute stop on over and show her some love and check out the books she has posted.

It’s been one of those weeks. You know the ones. When you have these crazy highs and just as quickly your stomach drops to your feet as you plummet into the depths of despair.

Yeah, that describes my week.

On the upside. I signed a contract with Ellora’s Cave this week for a short story titled “Mating Bonds”. It’s part of my “Shifting Bonds” series. And since I go into edits next week, I suspect it will be available shortly after that as a Naughty Nooner. Meaning … it will be FREE!!!

My gift to my readers!

Also on the happy news … it looks like we sold our house. Oh, no wait, no we didn’t. Well … yes we did. But no, no, I’m mistaken. And wait … oh, yes we did. The thrill of the chase–NOT! Yeah, we sold after some interesting negotiations. But of course we’re taking a beating (like every other seller on the house market.) Yeeeeeeah, the ups and downs of buyers and sellers and this wonderful economy. But selling the house is a good thing because now I can go live with Mr. Nina once again. And I really do miss the guy. Only … don’t even get me started with the housing market down there. I’m still nursing the wounds of selling my house. I need to recover just a little bit before bashing my head against the wall of that real estate. Even I can only take so much pain. LOL!

*Happy thoughts of being with Mr. Nina*

And with all this real estate stuff going on I didn’t get any writing done and this is a very bad thing. It’s only mid-Feb and my New Year’s resolution is taking quite a beating. That’s all right, I’ve still got today and tomorrow to pull this week’s word count out of the cellar. Later chicks … I’m refilling the wine glass and digging into the dark chocolate stash. I’m feeling the need for a little reinforcement …